3 July 2014

Stranded Indian nurses in Iraq move to new area

Dozens of Indian nurses who have been stranded at an Iraqi hospital are safe but are being forced to move to a new area controlled by Islamic militants, an Indian official said Thursday.

Forty-six nurses have been holed up for more than a week in Tikrit, where militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have taken over.

Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said the nurses were unharmed, but were being taken Thursday to a new area under the extremist group's control. He would not say who was moving the medical workers, but said the nurses "did not go on their own free will."

He described the situation as one of "grave difficulty" because the area is not under the control of the Iraqi army and is not accessible to humanitarian organizations.

He denied reports that there was a bomb blast as the nurses left Tikrit, but said some received minor injuries when some glass broke as they were leaving the hospital.

He said Indian embassy officials in Baghdad had spoken to some of the nurses as they left Tikrit.

Akbaruddin also said 39 Indian construction workers abducted two weeks ago near Mosul were still being held, but were safe and unharmed.

About 10,000 Indians work and live in Iraq, but only about 100 are in violent, insecure areas.

The abducted construction workers were mostly from northern states including Punjab and had been employed by the Tariq Noor al-Huda construction company.